Torrey Pines in February

[Matt Elliot]

I will be in San Diego the end of February and  am looking at booking a tee time at Torrey Pines.  I will only be able to play one round.  Is the South a must play since I am there?  Has anyone played the North Course since Weiskopf finished his renovations?  Any thoughts on which one I should play would be appreciated. 

[John Kavanaugh]

Most on this site will tell you not to play the South. If you choose to listen be prepared to kick yourself every time a tournament is held with extensive television coverage. In other words, often.


I personally love everything about the course from putting your name on a list and waiting to the international conglomeration of golfers that you will meet along the way. There are several, several great holes, many fine shots and unforgettable memories to be had.


I doubt that there is a course where I only played once that enters my mind more often. It's St. Andrews epic from a cultural and sociological standpoint.

[Brian Finn]

Most on this site will tell you not to play the South. If you choose to listen be prepared to kick yourself every time a tournament is held with extensive television coverage. In other words, often.


I personally love everything about the course from putting your name on a list and waiting to the international conglomeration of golfers that you will meet along the way. There are several, several great holes, many fine shots and unforgettable memories to be had.


I doubt that there is a course where I only played once that enters my mind more often. It's St. Andrews epic from a cultural and sociological standpoint.

I completely agree.  Play the South.  I was fortunate to play it ~100 times when I lived nearby, and I think about it nearly as much as any course I've played.  It's a wonderful experience.

[Jay Mickle]

Play the South just for the sake of being able to relate come tournament time.

[Rob Marshall]

Play the South. I don't care what anyone else says. It's a really good course. The 3rd and 4th holes are incredible.

[John Kavanaugh]

I see the 12th as a got to play it to believe it hole. Thought I had just played a par 5 until I stood on the 13th tee and just knew there wasn't two par 5's in a row. I had 7 iron in on the 12th, for my third shot!!!

[Tim Leahy]

Play the South. I don't care what anyone else says. It's a really good course. The 3rd and 4th holes are incredible.

+1  Then go to Anthony's Seafood Grotto for dinner.

[Charles Lund]

I get the local rate so I play The South a lot.

Go out very early on a weekday and get in front of a lot of slow play by tourists in carts.  Try to find the monthly schedule so you aren't competing with an event of some sort.

I was fortunate to have aced number three in 2010.  I always like going back and seeing if I can do it again.  The 4th, 7th, and 12th holes are very difficult.  If the rough is long, watch your line carefully and try to get a sense of how far you fly the ball or you will have difficulty finding your ball. 

The white tees are close to 6700 yards.  From those tees, the 4th, 7th, and 12th are unreachable in two, but I still play from the whites.  The par threes and par fives are better holes from the whites, from my perspective.

I have gone out and been paired up with out of town olayers. Most high single digit and low 10+ handicap players realize by the 5th hole they are on the best tees for them, rather than the 7000 yard blue tees.

I just got back to San Diego and will try The North a time or two in the next month.  I am looking forward to seeing the changes.  Many local players preferred The North due to lower cost and being less difficult.   I found it required landing tee shots on narrow corridors on one side of the fairway to keep the ball out of the rough due to side slopes on many fairways.  I considered that to be part of the challenge. 

The nines have been reversed, but the old stretch of number four through thirteen was a demanding stretch of holes.

With either course if rough is long, hacking the ball out with a lofted iron is pretty much the norm.

Charles Lund

[John Crowley]

Matt,
I agree the South is the one to play first. The redo of the North is very good and is generally improved. The new greens on the North are excellent for being so new. Very true and kept reasonably quick for a public course.


Send me a PM - may have a way to get a tee time without you having to pay an exorbitant fee of a tee broker.
John

[Martin Toal]

Allow lots of time. No, I really mean lots, even by American standards. The pace of play can be slower then the progress of human evolution. My last round was 6 hours and that was only possible because dusk fell before we finished and some groups ahead cleared off. The last can be played with 3 x 6 irons in the dark so long as you hit the ball straight.

[Pete Lavallee]

The end of Febuary means Tournament rough, 2-3 inches deep. It's really juicy stuff but the real pain is the searches; fairways average 20-30 yards wide and no average player can consistently keep their tee shots down such a narrow path. The South uses 10 minute spacing between tee times so you should finish around 4.5 hours; like any golf course or freeway things get slower later in the day! The North is still using 7 minute spacing which always backs things up; expect 5 hours minimum there if you tee off past 9:00. Good luck getting a time on the newly revised North, tee times are swallowed up literally in microseconds. Non-residents always have the option of paying the surcharge to insure a time.


Even if the South was the worst course to hold a US Open, and that's open to debate, that's still pretty special. Conditions finally match the exorbitant prices for non-residents. I wish I could tell you about the new North but have been shutout as a resident so far. Perhaps John can get me on!

[David McIntosh]

Matt,


I played the South in December a couple of years ago and would definitely recommend that you play it if in the area (I'm assuming you haven't played it before?).


I would echo with some of the earlier comments regarding the rough. When I played, the Farmers tournament was due to be held in the following February and you pretty much had to be standing on top of your ball to find it in the rough. If you did find your ball there wasn't much prospect of advancing it and wedging out was the only/sensible option. I didn't find pace of play to be an issue but we didn't spend too long looking for balls in the rough.


I was a single, but didn't have long to wait after putting my name down on the list, and was paired up with another single and a pair to make up the fourball - which added to the overall experience.


The main downside of the course that its most thrilling holes come so early in the round at 3 and 4 and it doesn't quite hit the same heights thereafter. It would probably also be fair to say that there isn't a lot by way of competition in the vicinity (excluding the North, which I haven't played) which should sway your decision to tee it up on the South.


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my round on the South and it's good to be able to relate first hand to the course when watching the PGA event on TV however having now done so I wouldn't rush back at the non-resident rate and would be more inclined to see the renovated North next time I'm in San Diego.

[Rob Marshall]

I see the 12th as a got to play it to believe it hole. Thought I had just played a par 5 until I stood on the 13th tee and just knew there wasn't two par 5's in a row. I had 7 iron in on the 12th, for my third shot!!!

Yeah, Seems like every time I played it, it was into the wind.

[Rob Marshall]

Play the South. I don't care what anyone else says. It's a really good course. The 3rd and 4th holes are incredible.

+1  Then go to Anthony's Seafood Grotto for dinner.

I like Georges above the La jolla Cove

[Mike Schott]

The South course is not a great course but to this day, and it's been 10-11 years since I've played it, many holes and the round are still fresh in my mind. The course was not nearly as busy or expensive back then as it is now. I played in late afternoon after it rained all morning. I was about the only person on the course and walked. My memories are that 3,4 and 6 are very fine holes. 4 is even better now as it's closer to the edge of the cliff. 12 is a true bear and 13 is a really nice roller coaster par 5. 18 is justly famous and the pin position is crucial in deciding how to play your 3rd (or if really good and brave) 2nd.

[Matthew Petersen]

It's not a great course, but the South is worth playing. Especially because there just aren't a ton of much better options in the area.

[Scott Little]

Haven't played the North since the renovation as I moved to Wisconsin last year but I loved playing the South course.  I never had a problem with getting on since I would arrive at the course 90 minutes before sunrise and was usually first in line for the few stand-by times.  That was part of the mystique that made Torrey Pines special for me as I was stationed at Fort Irwin in the middle of the Mojave. Leaving the desert in the dark to make the drive, smelling the ocean air in the parking lot, and meeting new people with a passion for the game.  After all, if you are willing to arrive at 04:30 then you are probably going to be good company.


Also...early morning golfers are generally walkers and it never took more than 3 &1/2 hours to get the round in.  Play the South, get there early, enjoy the company, and simulate Tiger's putt on 18 from the Open. 

[Kalen Braley]

How bad is public golf in San Diego that people are jonesing to play an over-priced slog of a course.


 Just checked the site: $180 for a weekday non-resident time... $110 in the afternoon when you can't even finish 18 holes.  I can't think of a lesser value in golf or a course that has cashed in more grotesquely for a "play where the pros play" gig.

[Rob Marshall]

How bad is public golf in San Diego that people are jonesing to play an over-priced slog of a course.


 Just checked the site: $180 for a weekday non-resident time... $110 in the afternoon when you can't even finish 18 holes.  I can't think of a lesser value in golf or a course that has cashed in more grotesquely for a "play where the pros play" gig.

Kalen, could you tell me what makes the course so bad?

[Greg Hohman]

Good post, Scott.

[Kalen Braley]

Rob,


That's too easy and well documented on this site to boot.  I'm curious what you think is so good about it to merit a nearly $200 green fee and a 5.5 hour round?

[John Kavanaugh]

It's so easy that Kalen knows without having played there.

[Pete Lavallee]

Kalen,

Can you name a public access US Open site that charges less than $100 and has rounds less than 4 hours?

Full disclosure, it's $65 during the week for SD residents and every round I've played there has been completed in less than 4.5 hours.

[Kirk Gill]

Matt, as you can see Torrey Pines South can be a polarizing course, but it's certainly worth a play while you're in town, if for no other reason than to throw down in discussions like this one !


As I will now do.


I enjoyed my one play of the course, but found it to be very difficult. It could become a slog, as Kalen says, if you're having a poor day driving the ball, especially if the rough is high, as it certainly was on my visit. My friend and I had a blast, though, and were paired with two older Chinese gentlemen who verbally abused each other in a very entertaining fashion throughout the round.

[Kalen Braley]

John,


You're right.  I considered it several years ago until I walked it, and thought naw I'll save my money...I consider that to be the wise choice! 


Pete, while that's true...what other public US open course is a Doak 4 at best?


Pebble. Chambers Bay, Bethpage Black, Pinehurst #2, etc...Torrey South is in a league of its own...